Vegetable Stir-Fry with Red Pepper, Bamboo Shoots, and Chestnut Mushrooms

Made with brown basmati rice, cooked for 25 minutes to half an hour in boiling water with turmeric, powdered ginger, and some Chinese five spice. Plus finely chopped scotch bonnet chilli (one half only! Remove all the seeds) and a little sunflower oil to prevent sticking.

The vegetables were: three cloves of garlic, diced, two dessert spoonfuls of bamboo shoots, preserved in oil, chopped chestnut mushrooms, half a stick of celery, chopped, two spring onions, diced, half a dozen green beans, chopped, and a quarter each of red and yellow pepper, chopped. If you have any liquor left over from a jar of grilled peppers, marinade the vegetables in that for an hour before cooking.

Rinse the rice and drain. Allow to cool. Then add the rice and the chopped vegetables to a wok with some preheated sunflower oil at a medium to high heat, depending on how you like to cook a stir-fry. Stir frequently for about four to five minutes (judge the result by eye).

Serve on a spiral of dark soy sauce. Also good with some egg noodles. Delicious!

Beef Chilli with Brown Basmati Rice

Brown Basmati and black wild rice takes longer to cook than ordinary basmati (at least thirty minutes), but is easy to prepare if you use a timer. Stir frequently, and add a little sunflower oil to the water, to avoid sticking.

The beef chilli was made with ground beef, garlic, scotch bonnet chilli (half of one, with the seeds removed), onion, tinned tomato, red and yellow pepper (diced), and a diced half head of brocolli. I cooked the onion, garlic and the chilli first, until the onion began to brown.Then I added the ground beef, and cooked that also until it began to brown.

 I added boiling water, some beef stock, and the other vegetables. Cooked for another fifteen minutes before adding the tin of chopped Italian tomatoes. Cook under glass at a low heat for at least an hour, stirring occasionally. If you have two hours available to prepare the dish, you won't regret it: the beef will be wonderfully tender.

Finally I dressed the rice with a few pinches of the spice Sumac, which imparts a subtle lemony flavour to the rice.

Chilli Chicken with Brown Basmati Rice

A simple dish which can be made with a range of vegetables. In this case, tomato, green beans, spring onion, mushrooms, peppers, chilli, and garlic. With chicken, chicken stock, peppers, and some tomato puree. 

The brown basmati was cooked with some camargue wild red rice. Takes thirty minutes to cook. 

Egg Fried Rice

I made this dish of egg fried rice with vegetables in the evening of a day, where, because of events, I had no breakfast or lunch. A great catch-up meal in such circumstances. 

I boiled just over a quarter cup of brown basmati rice for 35 minutes while I prepared the vegetables. I added a little sunflower oil to the water to prevent sticking. No salt, which would lengthen the cooking time.  

 Egg Fried Rice

I added vegetables which were available in the fridge, including carrot, chilli, green pepper, a quarter head of brocolli, green peas, spring onion, chestnut mushrooms. I also added a chopped clove of garlic, and some ground ginger. The carrot was cut into thin slices with a peeler. The vegetables were stir-fried for about twenty minutes at a medium heat - I added some boiling water to the mix halfway through. Once the water had evaporated I added the drained basmati rice to the mix and turned up the heat. 

From this point the dish requires frequent stirring and your attention. I cracked an egg on the side of the wok, and stirred it in. Cook for another seven minutes at a medium heat. 

Serve on a plate with a spiral of dark soy sauce.

Thai Green Vegetable Curry

Thai Green Curry, with chopped tomatoes, one medium leek, two spring onions, podded peas, red and green chillies, half a green pepper, a handful of cashew nuts, half a teaspoonful of Nam Pla fish sauce, plus a Thai green curry paste. Add the cashew nuts to hot sunflower oil in a wok, along with chopped leek, tomato, peas, spring onions, and the red and green chillies. Stir-fry for ten minutes, turning the heat down after five minutes. Add boiling water, and simmer the vegetables for twenty five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the Nam Pla fish sauce, and the green curry paste. Stir the paste into the vegetables thoroughly. Cook for another fifteen minutes at least before serving. Most, if not indeed all cuisines often have a number of signature sauces which are the basis on which dishes are created. Curry sauces serve the same function. So there is no definitive Thai green curry in terms of ingredients, beyond the ingredients of the curry paste and its spices. The ingredients I used in this particular vegetable curry were items in my fridge which needed to be used, and which would be harmonious with the curry sauce.

The sauce can be augmented with (more) coconut, ground almonds, and yoghurt or cream. Served with brown basmati rice and a handful of black wild rice (cook for thirty minutes). 

Seafood Risotto

Brown basmati rice cooked with a little turmeric (takes half an hour). The seafood was blanched in boiled water for five minutes before being transferred to a stirfry pan, and cooked for three minutes at a high heat in sunflower oil. Drain the rice and add to the pan. Reduce heat, and cook for between three and five minutes, stirring more or less continuously. Chopped onion is optional, and should be stirfried for a few minutes before adding the seafood. 

What was in the seafood? Mussels, Surimi seafood pieces, Pollock, Hake, Hoki (fish), and Cold water Prawns, 

Seafood Risotto